Harlock and Zero get 'cuffed!
by NerdGeekFangirl
Summary: So...Harlock and Zero find themselves in a situation. Fun...fun... still not sure where I'm going with this... A little bit of humour... a little bit of hurt/comfort... And a tiny little crossover xD
1. Author Intro

**Guest: What is harlock and zero got handcuffed together and held hostage**

 **Ooooooooh boy that sounds like fun xD**

 **There's two ways this can go... humour or angst... hmmmmmm**

 ***procrastinates***


	2. Character Intro

**Zero:** It all started with a drink.

It always does.

It usually ends with a drink too.

Apart from when Harlock got us into trouble

And we almost died :

 **Harlock:** Hey it was your fault!

And don't be so dramatic with the narrations

You're not space Shakespeare. .

 **Zero:** shut up

 _ ***a fight breaks out***_


	3. The Actual Story Begins

Harlock and Zero tapped their glasses against each other before downing some top quality bourbon. Both of them had pink cheeks but sharp eyes

"What are you brothers celebrating?" The bar man asked. The two men laughed loudly

"Oh dear fellow we are no where near related" Zero replied

"My apologies" the bar man smiled sheepishly. Zero was tall, well built but also narrow, his hair was rich brown and his eyes a deep chestnut, Harlock on the other hand was a few inches shorter, well built and every so slightly broader, his hair was a dark, dusty brown and his eye a caramel brown.

"I guess you could say we were more brothers in arms" Harlock joked

"Like I'd trust you to have my back" Zero said under his breath and Harlock smirked

"And we're celebrating a glorious victory" Harlock cheered rather too loudly

"Oh?" The bar man asked

"It was nothing major"

"Aww, Zero don't be so modest" Harlock nudged Zero's elbow. Zero set down his glass and tackled Harlock into a noogie

"You. Have. To. Stop. That!" Harlock whined as he scrambled out of Zero's grip "No wonder why we get mistaken for brothers... STOP MAN HANDLING ME!" Harlock shouted with a mischievous smile causing people to stare. Zero sat back down and moaned. Why did he even bother drinking with this guy?

Hours later, supporting one another, Harlock and Zero left the bar

"Harlock the whole world's moving" Zero murmured

"I feel like my head is floating bodiless..." Harlock chuckled

"I'm going to regret this tomorrow"

"Me too" they both groaned as they tried to find their way back to their ships. Their crews had retired a long time ago.

"Which one's mine and which one's yours?" Zero squinted

"I dunno I thought you would remember" Harlock rolled his eyes "mine has skulls on it"

"Ah yes that's right!" Zero exclaimed. They took one more drunken step and suddenly all went black. Both captains slumped to the floor and were dragged away.


	4. A Regretful Hangover

Zero thought he was having an immense hang over. He was dizzy, clammy and had a terrible headache. He turned around to see Harlock groggily waking up beside him looking as worse as he felt- a pale sweaty face with purple bags. Zero went to stretch and that's when he knew things weren't quite right. He couldn't move his left arm well, every time he tugged Harlock protested

"Zero stop tugging me it hurts!"

"I'm not I'm trying to stretch-" Both captains looked down at their wrists and saw silver handcuffs connecting them. They glared at each other accusingly

"What did you do?!" They both asked each other in unison

"It wasn't me I passed out before getting to the ship. I thought you helped me" Zero replied

"I thought you helped me! I passed out too" Harlock exclaimed

"Damnit!" Zero put his head in his spare hand. Harlock groaned as he rolled onto his back, holding his head.

In a hungover stupor, the two captains moaned and groaned at each other, but as the results of last nights drinking wore off, the began bickering. Constantly. If their crews were with them it'd be rather comical, but alone in the dim light of an unknown location, they were very close to declaring themselves enemies (not for the first time)

"Maybe if you hadn't been so childish-"

"Childish!? You were the one that gave me a noogie!"

"You're the dumb one, I'm the smart one!" Zero argued "it's always been that way"

"No no no" Harlock shook his head "you're the weak innocent one and I'm the strong confident one- you always drag me into trouble"

"Oh and you don't drag ME into trouble huh?". They continued like this, forehead to forehead growling. It wasn't until a few hours later, when they were sitting as far as their handcuff would allow them, backs turned, did their captors return to them.


	5. We Really Are In Trouble

The two captains were dragged by the collars of their jacket and cloak, their feet scrambling on the floor as they tried to gain ground, hand around their neck preventing their own collars from choking them. Harlock twisted onto his stomach and tucked his boots beneath him, he gain leverage but being handcuffed, his captor pulled on the chain that linked them and he was flipped back onto his back with a grunt. Zero gave Harlock a sideways glance

"Yours or mine?" He asked, jerking his head to the figures pulling them

"Ours" Harlock replied gravely.

Thrown into a room of light, Harlock and Zero blinked rapidly, groaning at the harshness. They turned to their assailants. Machine men.

"Oh hell" Harlock muttered under his breath

"Looks like they've come for your other eye" Zero smirked despite the situation

"Dick". They both stared at the men. Two seemed harmless, but they knew it wasn't the case, there was bound to be more.

"Do you regret wiping out that whole fleet?" Harlock asked Zero

"No"

"Me neither" and with that that jumped up and attacked their to captors, using the chain of their handcuff to their advantage. They wore triumphant smiles

"Get the keys and then we can take on the rest" Harlock ordered

"Don't give me orders" Zero snapped as he patted the machine men, his patting became desperate before looking at Harlock "we made a mistake-" four more machine men marched in, two grabbed Zero, another held Harlock and the other punched Zero repeatedly in the mid-drift. Harlock snarled, trying to break free from the machine man

"Stop!" He barked as Zero doubled over. The machine man restraining Harlock grabbed his ruffled locks and held his head up

"If you hadn't attacked, this wouldn't have happened" the cold voice said in his ear

"Bastard" Harlock spat as Zero was dropped on the floor, Harlock's writhing body and Zero's still form were dragged back to the dim cell

"You'll be next" the machine man pointed at Harlock before joining his comrades.

"Did I ever tell you purple and black really suit you?" Harlock crooned mockingly as Zero nursed the bruises on his chest and stomach

"Give me my jacket" Zero replied dully. Harlock helped Zero put his jacket it on awkwardly around the handcuff

"So what are we? Hostages? Play things? Dead men walking?" Harlock listed

"Harlock please, shut up"

"What? So you taking a beating and suddenly you hate me?"

"This isn't fun and games anymore Harlock! Be serious"

"I'm always serious-" Zero lunged at Harlock. The slap sounded like a whip in the silence of their cell. With a wounded look Harlock quietened, nursing his red cheek

"If you hadn't already taken a beating, I would throttle you right now" he said in a deadly calm voice

"We can fight when we're out of here"

"And how shall we manage that, oh great Captain Zero?"

"By playing by you rules"

"I have no rules" Zero smiled

"Exactly. And with that comes unpredictability, with that comes our advantage of surprise to get on top of the machine men"

"Not bad" Harlock nodded his head

"Thank you"

"Yeah yeah".


	6. Close Encounter

The two captains lay beside each other to conserve their energy

"Hey...Harlock. Do you still have that small pistol in your boot?" Zero turned his head, Harlocks head slouched, Zero kicked him the leg and his eyes fluttered open

"Why'd you do that?"

"Have you got that pistol in your boot?" Zero repeated

"Well yeah..." Harlocks eyes widened "ah" his bad temper for being woken evaporated. He sat up and reached into his boot taking out the silver weapon

"Brilliant!" Zero patted Harlock on the back

"I've got 10 bullets left"

"Well one can be used now, shoot the chain" so Harlock did. The chain smashed and the two captains jumped back, free. They ran to either side of the door and waited for the machine men to answer the gun fire. Two walked in, Harlock snapped the neck of one while Zero took the other down by strangling, they snuck out of the door and bent low checking corners of their unknown location

"I need to get in contact with the Karyu"

"No Zero, we need to get out"

"Harlock listen, we need a quick escape and we can't do that on foot, we need a ship and reinforcements". Before he could reply Harlock aimed his gun and fired as more reinforcements came, the alarm signal blared

"Shit" Zero cursed

"You swore?" Harlock asked in mock surprise

"Now is not the time to pull wise crack jokes" Zero reprimanded

"We need to move other wise I'm going to run out of bullets" Harlock warned, Zero only nodded before fleeing in the opposite direction of the machine men, Harlock backed away slowly before following. They ran full stride down numerous corridors, they stumbled into a room and were taken aback- humans. The humans looked up at them in surprise

"What-?" Zero was dragged in along with Harlock

"Take off your outer clothes!" Hissed a man tugging at Harlocks cloak. Without a word Zero shrugged off his jacket and Harlock unfastened his cloak and dropped his own jacket. The men took it to the fire that burned at the back of the room

"Do you really have to do that?" Harlock said in dismay as he watch his beloved cloak burn

"It's the only way to hide you and get rid of evidence, Captain Harlock, Captain Zero"

"Who are you guys?" Zero asked, rolling up his shirt sleeves to look more like the men at their stations

"Unlucky people, wrong place at the wrong time when the machine men came" the man shrugged

"We thought they were still on good terms with us" a woman spoke up "but apparently the tides have turned again". Harlock and Zero were ushered among the people and given blunt tools

"What do you do here?" Zero asked looking at the tools, noting them as the only weapons they now had, plus Harlock's pistol

"We make parts for damaged ships, fix weapons... the machine men are preparing again. We heard news you guys wiped out an entire battalion"

"Hell yeah we did" Harlock laughed, the grave faces that met him showed they did not share his good cheer

"It's pushed them into a frenzy to push war forward"

"War!?" Zero shook his head "again?"

"Again" the man replied.

The machine men hunting for the prisoners barrelled into the human work room and scanned the labourers. Zero and Harlock were hunched over a separate stations wearing their civilian clothes, faces red and gleaming from being so close to the fire. The room was large and the workstations spread out, the machine men walked through the small clusters of workers before leaving, no prisoners here. Everyone stopped working, Harlock wiped the sweat from his head, his hair awry. Zero peeled off his gloves and gave them to the man he worked with whose hands were sore

"Thank you captain" the man beamed, Harlock rolled his eyes

"Goodie two shoes". The man and woman that had greeted them directed them to a small side door

"This should take you to the abandoned part of the centre, the machine men use it as storage and it's a great way to avoid the patrols until you enter back into the other side of the centre" Harlock opened the door to a room full of abandoned projects deemed to faulty but can be reused for parts

"Thank you" Zero smiled appreciatively

"Just beat their asses so we can go home"

"Definitely" Harlock flashed his devious smile before walking through the door followed by Zero

"Good luck!" Some of the men and women cheered before the door closed on them. Both captains looked down at the handcuffs on their wrists, half a chain dangling from it

"This would look great as a new flag symbol" Harlock mused.


	7. Spoke Too Soon

"We need to find a control room, contact our crews" Harlock still hated Zero's idea. He hated it because it was better than his

"Fine"

"Good"

"I only have four bullets left" Harlock said lamely checking the barrels of his gun

"At least we have make shift weapons"

"Blunt weapons"

"But still weapons, we still have a chance"

"Stop being so positive, it's unnerving"

"I'm not positive, only logical"

"Uh huh"

"Shhh" Zero put a hand in front of Harlock to stop him before mouthing "machine men". They retraced their steps until they reached a door, opening it a crack they saw and empty conference room and snuck in. The discovered plans on the walls and Zero started studying it before Harlock took all the paper work and folded it into his pocket

"What? They know we've escaped so it wouldn't surprise them to find things missing" Harlock shrugged at Zero's signature pissed face. The door knob turned. Zero and Harlock swore before unceremoniously diving under the table

"Of course... the machine men we were running from just HAD to be coming to a conference and YOU'VE left a huge indication to show that we are here"

"Or that we WERE here. Maybe they'll see it and run off to find us thinking we're still int he area"

"You underestimate, don't forget half of my crew are machine men"

"I wonder if they know about this..."

"Don't go into that right now. Stop changing the subject" Zero hushed as machine men walked into the room before faltering

"Our plans-"

"They've taken them-

"We need to find them now. It's imperative-"

"It could destroy every chance we have". The machine men fell into discussion and the two prisoner hid under the table

"I can't believe we're hiding under a table" Harlock hissed, his heart thudding brilliantly with fear and the humour of his situation. He watched Zero- his eyes wide and chest heaving, his poor brother in arms wasn't dealing so well with it.

Just as Harlock had said, the machine men abandoned their conference and went in search of the prisoners. The two hunched figures waited under the table a while longer before they both exhaled loudly and Harlock chuckled deeply

"Ah this takes me back to my young days"

"Hiding from me?"

"Hiding from you? Pfft no. Stop thinking so highly of yourself. You were the one hiding from me"

"Bullshit!" Zero laughed. Harlock climbed out from under the table and padded softly to the door like a predator, he held the knob slowly and pulled the door and looked through with his good eye

"We're clear"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah seriously". Zero snuck up next to him and they both left the conference room. The alarm system had long stop blaring but the warning lights still flashed, it was slightly unsettling. And then it happened. Machine men filed in from both directions, guns raised

"Aww come one" Harlock almost pouted like a child who lost a game

"This isn't fair" Zero sighed, the first to raise his hands in surrender. Harlock refused to, despite having four bullets he pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the first line of machine men

"A feeble attempt" One spoke. Harlock placed his hand on the trigger

"Harlock!" Zero shouted a warning, Harlock turned around and was faced with the butt of a gun in his temple. He was blinded on impact and slumped to the floor. Zero grabbed him under the arms and struggled to hold him up. The machine men grabbed Zero

"No no no!" He bellowed as they tried to separate the two captains. Zero panicked as they dragged Harlocks limp body out of view, he struggled and broke free and sprinted towards Harlock before he too was again apprehended and knocked unconscious.


	8. It's Probably Going To Get Worse

Zero jerked awake, he still wore the broken handcuff but a thick manacle encased his wrist next to it. The chain was longer, thicker, heavier and led to...

"Harlock!" Zero crawled to the sprawled out figure, blood crusted on his head, hair and mouth 'you'll be next' the words echoed in Zeros head from their first incarceration. He lifted Harlocks top up to confirm his thoughts, he had beaten to a pulp. Zero took Harlocks gloves off and tried to nurse the bruises and cuts before Harlock jerked awake with a yelp

"Sorry" Zero murmured. Harlock looked around blearily before focusing on his feet

"Zero they took our boots"

"I was wondering what that cold draft was" Zero pondered

"Stop touching me" Harlock yanked his glove back from Zero "I'm a quick healer" he pulled his shirt down

"Careful, you might be concussed" Zero warned. Harlocks hand flew to his head and touched it tentively, flinching

"Now what?" Zero only shrugged in reply. Harlock lifted his manacled arm and shook it lazily, assessing their new restraint

"So far, the only option I can give is wait. Wait for them to come back to us and snap as many necks as we can"

"Harlock that'd be impossible, too tiring and too slow"

"Okay then. The only option I can give is waiting"

"They want to weaken us"

"Of course they do"

"Then we better conserve as much energy as we can after wasting so much"

"Hmm".

They sat in the timeless cell. Sometimes they laid on the floor, most of the time they spent slumped in the corner, shoulder to shoulder. Their conversations had died, their eyes drooped with exhaustion, their stomachs had long since gone past the point of grumbling in hunger; it was as if the two captains were the living dead. Exactly how the machine men wanted them. Five of them entered the cell and pulled them out, Harlock and Zero found it difficult to gain ground, their legs floundering and shakey as they were dragged into the blinding lights. In the harsh light they looked at each other, they didn't look like captains in their prime anymore, they looked like haggard civilian prisoners- shirts plain, dirtied and crumpled, trousers covered in dust, sunken faces and limp hair. But despite all that, they still had a dangerous glint in their eyes. They had endured worse.

Or so they thought.


	9. Human Punch Bags

The machine men they once knew were still soft. Still had some strange sense of humanity. But it was just their luck that the machine men they had destroyed and the ones that now held them captive were devoid of all that humanity. They were just cold, unfeeling machines. They didn't feel any kinship to humanity and through that, they didn't need to feel bad for making the humans pay for their loses.

"Hand to hand combat training" A machine man stepped forward and pointed at the two captains "you will go in in pairs, you will use what you have been taught to incapacitate your enemy. As a result, you will be prepared for any surprise attack". The soldiers nodded, the aims clear

"Oh boy" Zero gulped

"Relax, I've been wanting to kick some machine ass" Harlock grinned

"You're forgetting something"

"The chain?"

"The fact we've be incarcerated and malnourished for God knows how long"

"Oh that" Harlock shrugged "I've had worse"

"Really" Zero scoffed

"Okay maybe not, but I'm just trying to boost morale okay?"

"Is that how you talk to your crew?" Zero raised an eyebrow

"Sometimes" Harlock shrugged before his attention was drawn to the first two machine men entering the circle that had been drawn wide around them. The machine men divided the duo, Harlock and Zero pulled on their restraint as they ducked for defence and used their free hand to attempt attack. Zero was pushed into Harlock

"This isn't working" He gasped eyeing the machine man stalking towards him

"Swing me around" Harlock ordered, Zero gave a questioning glance but Harlock only nodded. Zero reigned in the chain for a firm grip and spun around, with momentum Harlock flung himself at the machine man and they both sprawled onto the floor. Harlock sat on top of the machine man and punched him, with Zero close by he as able to use both hands and incapacitated the machine man. He jumped up and without warning swung Zero at the remaining machine man, they toppled over and they headbutted each other, the machine man was knocked out cold and Zero clambered up concussed.

The machine men studied the two humans, each attack they showed new strategies, but there were too many machine men to practice with and their strategies became repetitive allowing the machine men to win. When the last two machine men entered, a panting Harlock held an extremely concussed Zero on his shoulder, they're eyes circled with blotchy purple, lips cracked and other unseen injuries under their bloodied clothes. They hardly had a swing left in them, the hard fists of metal punctured their bodies, Zero collapsed in a heap and a brief moment of panic flared through Harlock

"Zero get up" He grunted, survival instincts going wild. Zero refused to move, anchoring Harlock down. Both machine men came at him, they grabbed his hair, pulling his head back before hitting him in the jaw. He sunk to his knees, Zero's eyes fluttered open in dismay as blood pooled out of Harlocks mouth

"I bit my tongue" He hissed before collapsing

"Harlock..." A boot made contact with Zeros face and he slumped next to Harlock. The prisoners were dragged back to their empty cell and they tried to tend to their wounds, massaging them

"Ungh" Zero tenderly touched both his eyes

"Maybe you should get an eye patch like me" Harlock mused staring at Zero's left eye, the capillary had burst dousing it in red

"God I need a drink"

"Agreed".


	10. Finally, Something A Bit Positive

"C...Captains?" A voice called out unsure. The woman that had helped them previously loomed over the pallid faces with deep bruising

"Hmmm?" Harlock answered dazed, before you bolted upright and blinked at the woman

"Mihran is just finding the keys, we're going to try again" she explained

"That'd be great, but I feel as old as space itself" Harlock nudged Zero, who moaned like an old man

"You can feel tired once you're out" the woman urged "I'm sick of this place and you and your ships seem to be the only ones able to defeat these machines"

"Machine men" Zero corrected

"What's your name again? I never caught it"

"Sedia"

"Nice name"

"Harlock stop flirting" Harlock gaped at Zero

"Me? Flirt?" The woman, Sedia, laughed

"It's surprising you can talk at all with that swollen tongue" Harlock stuck his tongue out as if only just remembering he'd bit into it leaving it sore and swollen. It was a rather comical move and despite each breath hurting, Zero enjoy the sharp shooting pain of his laughter.

Mihran returned with the keys

"Stupid idiots, who leaves keys just...lying around?" he asked

"Well they are men" Sedia shrugged, the three men surrounding her glared, pondered the thought and shrugged it off. The two labourers helped the limping captains to a vent shaft

"It's a tight fit but you'll be safe. We can drop things in until you've healed and mustered some strength. The tall captains awkwardly folded themselves into the vent shaft, Zero further back and Harlock at the front, both had their knees pinned under their chins

"Thank you" Zero whispered before the vent plate was put back in place

"Is this a bad time to say I have a cramp?" Harlock shuffled slightly. They crawled further into the shaft until it came to a T-junction allowing both men to almost lie flat. They dozed fitfully, disturbed only by the hounding steps of patrols who had had their arses kicked for letting the prisoners slip again. As promised various labourers, sometimes a brief visit from Mihran and Sedia, came to the shaft and dropped in food and water

"I never thought crackers tasted so good" Zero stared at the plain square as if it was gold

"Get yourself together man" Harlock swigged some water and pulled a face

"This is the reason I only drink wine... The water's too polluted"

"Somebody's feeling better, huh? Analysing drinks" Zero smirked

"Well I can only assume I'm better, I don't feel like you anymore, y'know, stiff"

"Bastard".


	11. Getting Out Part One

When Sedia came across to drop off the spare food, she found Harlock and Zero folded up at the front of the shaft

"I think we've lazed around enough" Zero smiled through the space between Harlock's knees and the roof of the shaft. Sedia only nodded before closing them back in. They watched numerous shadows pass by, it put them on edge more than it had done when they were at their weakest. Each shadow could be a machine man foiling their plans. They hoped Mihran and Sedia had been as inconspicuous as they could.

"D'you reckon they've given up the search?" Zero pondered

"I highly doubt it. How could we possibly hide for so long before being noticed? They wouldn't think about the shafts, so they'll still be on the lookout" Harlock analysed. Zero did his best to shrug in the tight space

"They seemed quite willing to kill us"

"And next time they find us, maybe they will"

"But they won't find us... hopefully"

"Zero you are insufferable. One minute you are disgustingly positive, the next minute you're all doom and gloom"

"You're rubbing off on me, you pirate"

"Good".

By the time Mihran and Sedia arrived the captains were restless and twitchy. Climbing out of the shaft was harder than they thought. With the manacle still connecting them, they wiggled out slowly, aiming to make as little noise as possible and once they crawled onto the corridor floor, they felt the freedom of open space. Harlock breathed a sigh of relief, bones cracking as he stretched. The two labourers beckoned the two captains to follow

"We're getting you straight out, after that you're on your own" Mihran explained as they checked a corridor

"Wait... out? I thought-"

"We tried before and got caught Zero. We can't risk anything" Zero turned to Harlock, a storm brewing in his brown eyes "Warrius. We'll find a way, we're smart" Harlock comforted, Zero unaccustomed to the sound of his first name "not everything has to be controlled". Zero only nodded.

"Is there anyway to get this chain off? It's beginning to piss me off now" Harlock tugged at the manacle, revealing the silvery scars, Sedia took an experienced hand and inspected

"I'm afraid not, it's one of the old fashion prison chains, once connected they cannot be released by a key or be broken by rudimentary weapons. You need a gun, or something more"

"Brilliant" Harlock muttered.

"BACK! Back back!" Mihran hissed. The four of them pressed against the wall

"What is it?" Sedia asked, standing next to him

"So many machine men- it must be recreational time now"

"Shit" the two labourers looked around, unable to find anywhere to hide

"Retrace our steps" Zero beckoned as he tugged at Harlock and they steadily turned the corner. They broke in to a light jog, Harlock and Zero had not been able to find their boots, but by this point they were glad, their heavy footfalls would have given them away, but just wearing socks, they padded silently across the corridor. Zero couldn't scratch the feeling of someone watching them, a tingling sensation on his spine and ears, a sweat broke out and Harlock looked at him questioningly. He seemed to be in his element, taking the adrenaline in his stride like a junkie

"Is this what you do all the time?" Zero whispered

"Indeed it is" Zero shook his head, how could someone throw themselves into situations?

"Careful, you might get reckless"

"When do I ever get reckless"

"Really" Zero poked. Harlock rolled his eyes. The two labourers found a vent, they looked at it and then back at the two captains

"We're going to have to squeeze in until tomorrows routine kicks in" Mihran said apologetically. Harlock groaned, he couldn't stand anymore confined spaces.

Unlike the vent shaft they had hid in before, this one was a continuous straight line and all four were curled up shoulder to shoulder with Mihran at the front of the shaft holding the vent plate. Only soft breathing was heard, there was no imminent danger but there was a worrying sense of the unknown

"Wouldn't they notice two labourers missing?"

"Possibly..." Sedia gave a worried glance to Mihran, Harlock and Zero swallowed

"Do you reckon there will be less machine men around at night?" Zero inquired

"We don't know"

"How near to the escape route were we before we had to retreat?" Zero's voice was steady, eyes narrowed in calculation

"Very close, that's why there was a lot of machine men in the recreational hour. They were coming from guarding one of the exits"

"How were we to escape if it's guarded?" Harlock tried not to raise his voice "how does trying to get us out even work if you know it's basically impossible?"

"Temper, Harlock" Zero chided like a parent

"Oh shut up, Zero" Harlock snapped, his fiery attitude kicking in

"There's a guard change over...We...We were going to indicate when exit was free so you could run" Mihran struggled to find the words under the pirate's wrath. Still simmering Harlock scowled at his knees

"That makes sense" Zero nodded "but perhaps we should try tonight, it'll be darker outside too so we can vanish quicker"

"But machine men have better eye sight" Sedia fretted

"And we have a lot of pent up energy to burn" Harlock grumbled

"Trust us. If you can help us get out tonight, you'll be able to get back to your designated area before suspicion is aroused" Zero replied softly, he was annoyed at Harlock's pushy attitude, it unsettled their helpers. Mihran and Sedia whispered to themselves while Zero punched Harlock in the gut, Harlock let out a woof of air and growled at Zero who growled back

"Stop being such a pirate! Do you want to break the trust we have with these people?"

"What can I say?" Harlock snapped back

"Sorry?" Zero suggested

"I'm slightly claustrophobic"

"Well I guess that's the closest to an apology I'm going to hear- wait really?"

"Can we not go into it?" Harlock regretted the little slip

"For now" Zero teased.


	12. Getting Out Part Two

Mihran and Sedia agreed to try and sneak them out of the compound that night, Zero felt guilty for pushing ahead, seeing their helpers so anxious. Mihran slowly hefted the vent plate to the floor, the lights dimmed and the corridors quiet, no distant footstepts or conversations

"This is good" Mihran whispered, visibly relaxing. They clambered out and groaned as they let their bodies unravel

"How on earth did you manage to stay in one for so long?" Sedia asked to the two captains who held their chain taut to stop it from making noise... and dragging across the floor

"I have no idea" Harlock shrugged, ignoring the pins and needles in his legs as they walked hastily back down the corridors they had attempted to travel down earlier.

A sense of unease falls over Harlock, he glances at Zero who still wears a constipated expression, still not used to being a temporary fugitive

"This feels too easy" Harlock whispered, Zero flinched at the idea

"Shh" Sedia hissed, her spine ramrod straight, she'd heard him. Harlock felt the chill of the pendulum. Whenever he was stuck in a fight or flight situation, he could always sense the time he had to make a decision swinging by. He brushed a restless hand through his matted hair, blood from the beatings still clung to him

"Harlock?"

"Hmmm?"

"Look" Zero pointed ahead to where the two labourers had crouched down and were taking extreme caution to look around the corner. The two captains flattened themselves against the wall

"What's going on?" Harlock barely whispered

"The exit" Mihran mouthed. Zero leaned over the two crouched figures and saw four machine men by the door

"There would be four outside as well, perhaps more... We've never been out to know"

"So now we wait for them to be relieved from their shift?" Zero asked

"Yes"

"Shouldn't we back round to the corner? There's a high chance of being seen" Zero recommended. The group retrailed back and settled into position. Watching. Waiting.

"They're coming! They're coming!" Sedia jogged the men awake from a stealthy stupor, Mihran jumped but the two captains spun into motions effortlessly. The machine men guarding the exit heard the next group marching forward, they opened the door and called the others in. Ten came from outside, there were 28 machine men in total to avoid. They marched into the corridor and met with the team, Mihran, Sedia, Harlock and Zero held their breath, watching as the machine men began to talk. As planned, Mihran and Sedia snuck towards the last corner before the exit and listened- they were deep in a casual conversation. Sedia waved the captain's over, crouching they painstakingly made their way towards them, they had a fistful of chain, knuckles white with stress.

"When you open the door, they'll hear you. So just go for it, run, don't look back because we'll be gone to" Mihran assured "just get your arses out of here". The captains nodded before rounding the corner, taking a furtive glance at the large congregation of guards, oblivious. Zero looked at Harlock, they both nodded and the door clicked open. Fresh air caressed them, a brief respite before they tore through the door and into open land, the air whipping through their hair and whistling in their ears. They heard the machine men loading their weapons, calling reinforcements. But it was too late, Harlock and Zero had already disappeared into the darkness.

Blindly they ran, stumbling over uneven earth. The chaos of the compound had long since melted away. They carried on sprinting until their legs became intwined within bushes, they fell onto the cushion of leaves. Panting, the chain thudded heavily as they released their clenched fists, Harlock started laughing and Zero joined in. Both men lay cackling in the bushes in the dead of night, chained and bootless like mad men.


	13. Now What?

Zero woke up to an insane itch. He blearily opened his eyes and was blinded by the blue sky, it was so bright after living under artificial lighting. He yelped and closed his eyes, but opened them again as the itch grew worse. Ants. Ants everywhere. He yelled and scrambled up battering himself before taking his dust covered shirt and swirling it above his head like a lasso. Harlock cracked an eye and watched Zero's panic, he propped himself up on his elbows and smirked at Zero's terror.

"Well don't bother helping!" Zero shouted, yanking the chain that bound them causing Harlock fall on his back

"Okay okay!" He stood up and brushed the remaining ants from his shoulders "you pretty much murdered the rest without my help". After Zero had recovered, the two captains looked at their surroundings. Surprisingly, the compound was still in sight, machine men running around, but there were far enough out to move around undetected

"Hopefully Mihran and Sedia made it back" Zero squinted

"Are you sure you don't need glasses? You squint so much" Harlock teased

"It's a habit" Zero grumbled.

When the novelty of laughing at the machine men's plight wore off, Harlock and Zero were left hungry and planless

"Well now what? I TOLD you we should have contacted our crew" Zero flopped on his back as his stomach rumbled

"And then what? Get caught, our crews come and then they're caught!"

"But at least we would have more people to help initiate escape, double the numbers double the chances"

"I will punch you" Harlock threatened

"And I'll punch you right back pirate". They sat in stony silence, hating the fact they were clueless on what to do. Bored, Harlock tugged at Zero and they untangled themselves from the bushes and walked around the area looking for any inspiration

"What about it we took a ship from the machine men?" Harlock ventured "I do know a fare bit about using foreign ships" he said slyly

"Too risky" Zero replied dismissively "considering how easy they could overwhelm us within, nothing's stopping them doing it while we're out". Harlock kicked the dusty earth in frustration, the sudden violent movement in his arms threw Zero off balance and he crashed into Harlock. Both men fell to the ground

"IF THIS CHAIN WAS A PERSON I WOULD MURDER IT IN SO MANY UNFORGIVABLE WAYS" Harlock seethed pushing a scrambling Zero off him.

Dusk fell when Zero looked up into the sky to watch the stars appear, his eyes trailed a moving object. At first he thought perhaps that it was just a meteor, but it grew bigger. Maybe a comet? No...

"Harlock!" He tapped Harlock's shoulder and pointed towards the long line of light

"By the stars..."

"It's a Galaxy Train!"

"There's a station here?!" Harlock and Zero watch the white light thicken, they were far away from train to make it out, but sure enough the white line stopped for a short while before bending up towards the sky again

"Why is there a station here? Why did the machine men set up a compound here? Do they even know?!"

"Zero, shut up. I think you just found us our escape".


	14. stowaways

They trekked across the land, despite the hunger and the pain of their now bare feet and soon the station came into sight. Both men were gasping

"I hope the train wasn't a figment of our imagination" Zero doubted

"Shut up" Harlock growled

"You keep saying that" Zero accused

"Because you're getting on my nerves"

"And here I thought our friendship had lasted" Zero said bitterly

"Just shut up"

"Again!"

"ZERO THIS IS WHY NOBODY LIKES YOU" Harlock half shouted, half laughed

"You are a cagey little space pirates aren't you?" Zero sniggered

"Shut up" Harlock snapped, Zero laughed

"You're a pretentious little wannabe captain"

"Wannabe?! I AM a captain, thank you very much"

"Uh huh"

"Fuck you"

"No thanks"

"You're impossible"

"Not quite" and so the two captains continued to bicker, as if their lost days of imprisonment were nothing. The chain that bound them seemed to have been forgotten or ignored, dragging roughly but quietly in their shadows.

"Oh- and another thing-!"

"Shhh-!"

"Don't shush me!" Zero roared

"Seriously Zero... LOOK" Harlock pointed up in the sky

"Oh yes a nice sunset"

"For Gods sake- A SHIP!"

"Oh...Oooooooh" Zero gaped. The two of them watched the ship hover close by

"Don't move, they might not see us" Harlock said quietly as the scout ship came into focus

"Oh this is cruel" Zero mumbled to himself. They held their breath as the ship passed over them. They counted the minutes before they started walking to the station in view, a faint streak was beginning to emerge in the darkening sky

"Aww come on" Harlock moaned as the scout ship came roaring over them, machine men poised at the open doors ready to jump. They bolted into a run, the ship hovering above and machine men on their heels. Whatever meagre energy they had left, they used it to get as far from their pursuers as possible

"The train's coming... we're going to miss it!" Zero bellowed

"...Zero that's Big One"

"What?"

"That's Big One!" Zero gaped at Harlock's statement, but they couldn't back down now

"There's only one thing for it-" Zero said hastily, looking back at the machine men assembling around them "-jump!" Zero bellowed

"Wait-" Harlock's sentence was lost as Big One sped towards them at the station.

Grabbing fistfuls of their chain, Harlock and Zero lunged for the railings. Zero swung Harlock into the last train carriage and they both rolled across the floor, leaving the machine men standing at the platform. Kneeling, both captains wooped in victory. They took a quick glance out of the train door window their enemies scrambling to get into the scout ship, but it was all in vain, the train put too much distance between them.

"I can't believe you, of all people, was the one to encourage me to stow away on Big One" Harlock laughed

"Hopefully my flawless record and status of a fully qualified captain will get us through any criminal charges"

"Oh my dear friend, you forgot who you are travelling with. My notorious infamy out guns your... flawless record"

"Shit"

"Maybe I should hijack the train?

"NO YOU WILL NOT" Zero yelled

"I was kidding!" Harlock held up his hands in mock surrender "besides I'm sure my cousin will understand"

"Your...cousin? Wait you have family?"

"Uh...yeah... Wataru is my cousin"

"WATARU!?"

"Shhhh!"

"Wataru's your cousin!?" Zero hissed "how come you fell so far from the tree?"

"Really, Zero? Out of all the possible questions you ask why I'm a rogue pirate?" Harlock rolled his eyes

"But-" the carriage door opened and two train attendants stood there

"Stowaways!" Exhausted the captains hardly put up a fight as they were dragged down to the front of the train. Much to Harlock's annoyance, Zero wouldn't let his family relations go

"But... No! Wataru can't be your cousin... I mean yeah okay you do have similar traits but..."

"But why is Harlock such a good for nothing scoundrel?" A soft voice asked

"Wataru" Harlock nodded. Zero gaped

"Dear Zero, it is true" Wataru laughed "sadly"

"I need a drink" Harlock growled

"God yes" Zero swallowed.


	15. Author Outro

**I guess this is where it ends! I would carry it on, but I feel like it would start dragging out... Besides, I have so many other recommendations to start working on... I really hope you liked it!**


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